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/ 

A 


DISCOURSE 


DEATH OF PRESIDENT HARRISON, 

, faj _ 

DELIVERED AT WAREHAM, MAY 14, 1841. 


WITH AN APPENDIX, ON THE PRINCIPLES AND 
CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON. 


By SAMUEL NOTT, Jr., 

AUTHOR OP ‘ SERMONS ON PUBLIC WORSHIP, SUITED TO THE TIMES.* 



NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM.—See page 22. 


BOSTON: ”V> 

PUBLISHED BY WHIPPLE & DAMRELL. 

NEW YORK: —JOHN P. HAVEN. 

1841 , 










. a hz 


Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1841, 
By SAMUEL NOTT, Jr., 

In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 


i 1 


POWER PRKS3 OF \VM. 8. DAMRELL, 

No. 11 Coruhill, l\oston. 





INTRODUCTION. 


The following discourse derives its character from the author’s 
deep and delightful impressions, as expressed in the same pul¬ 
pit on the Sabbath following February 22,1832,—the centennial 
of the birth-day of Washington,—and published for substance in 
the New York Observer of February 18 and 25 of that year, 
under the title of, The Observer of the Times. The re¬ 
ligious characteristics of the closing life of Harrison, recalled 
the principles and character of Washington; and as the discourse 
would have been other than it is, but for that bright vision, so 
the publication would seem to the author incomplete, if there did 
not stand, beside the characteristics which make Harrison’s 
death a peculiar blessing to the country, this bright parallel in 
the principles and character of Washington. Let, then, these 
illustrious witnesses for Christianity speak in harmony, at least 
to my townsmen; and let them learn from these venerated 
patriots how to live and how to die; how to regard the nation 
with the highest advantage to themselves, and themselves so as 
to give strength and endurance to the state. And if lessons of 
piety and patriotism, which I am sure are worthy of a nation’s 




regard, might find a wider door of utterance, I would say, Let 
Washington and Harrison speak in harmony to my countrymen, 
and let them learn true patriotism and true piety from these 
pious patriots; thus raising and cementing our National Pyra¬ 
mid,—human energy and skill availing to durable prosperity 
only under the eye of Heaven, which “prospered our begin¬ 
nings.” The Reverse of our National Seal, impressed upon the 
title page, and illustrated page 22, is worthy to rise out of the 
oblivion in which a vain-hearted people have suffered it to lie, 
and to hold its place in the memory of the present and future 
generations; lest, as in an ancient instance of a not unlike pro¬ 
vision for national humility and faith, it assert at length its claim 
as a witness against “ a foolish people and unwise.” 


DISCOURSE 


ISAIAH 48: 17,18. 

“ Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: 
I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which 
leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go. O that thou 
hadst hearkened to my commandments: then had thy peace been 
as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.” 

In common with our whole country, and at the 
call of the Chief Magistrate whom God has suddenly 
and specially set over us, we meet in a great national 
mourning, afflicted, rebuked, instructed, as individ¬ 
uals and as members of the body politic, “that we 
may all with one accord join in humble and rever¬ 
ential approach to him in whose hands we are, 
invoking him to inspire us with a proper temper of 
heart and mind, and still to bestow his benedictions 
upon our government and our country;” or, in the 
language which we have chosen for our present 
guidance, that we may learn of “him who teacheth 
us to profit, who leadeth us in the way that we 
should go; and that our peace may be like a river, 
and our righteousness like the waves of the sea.” 

X# 






6 


“It is better to go to the house of mourning than 
to the house of feasting; for that is the end of all 
men, and the living will lay it to his heart.” To¬ 
day, the opportunity is national, and yet as personal 
as when we meet in neighborhood mourning,—in 
domestic bereavement. So closely has God hound 
seventeen millions of people into one family, that at 
the death of this our common father, we are all 
afflicted and taught for our profit. By one stroke, 
every heart is touched, every conscience roused, and 
every eye turned to the Lord our God, leading us in 
the way we should go, into the paths of present and 
eternal peace. Happy, if we “hearken to his com¬ 
mandments.” 

Is there a more interesting scene than that which 
is present to all our thoughts to-day,—that solemn 
mourning in which we are bearing our part,—that 
divine worship by millions of people, humbling 
themselves under the mighty hand of God,—and 
that teaching to profit, by one sad event, and uttered 
by thousands of ministers of the Most High? The 
tolling bell, the solemn procession, the mourning 
drapery, expressing and aiding our solemn thoughts, 
—these mournful psalms, these penitential prayers, 
and these lessons of public instruction, which occupy 
us,—fill our land to-day from east to west, and from 
north to south, as becomes a great people mourning 
for the first time the death of their common head 
and father; so much the more for our profit, as the 
event was sudden, and at the commencement of the 
administration for which as a people we had exalted 
him. As a people, and yet as individuals, we feel 
that we have been corrected amidst our self-confi- 


7 


dence and self-will, our pride and our strifes; and we 
meet at the divine call through him whom the Lord 
has set over us, to harmonize in mutual sorrow, and 
to humble ourselves as we ought under God’s mighty- 
hand. 

Many of you will perceive that I have chosen for 
the more labored effort of this day the text which 
guided me on our State fast, believing that my own 
first impressions, on receiving the intelligence of this 
national bereavement, are most likely to be the true 
lessons intended; and I have feared that I should be 
doing injustice to this renewed opportunity, if I were 
to seek for other lessons than those which were laid 
to my own heart by the first shock itself, and which 
I was thus impelled to present to many of you,—in 
sympathy, I doubt not, with the very lessons already 
laid upon your hearts also. When God teaches to 
profit, the lesson is not doubtful; the impression is 
according to his intention. Ours it is to hearken to 
his voice. I shall pursue the same design, therefore, 
as on the former occasion, with such variations and 
improvements as further information, and reflection, 
and careful study, may enable. 

The text, as the whole Jewish institution, as the 
whole Bible,—true to man as he is,—an individual, 
and yet a part of civil as truly as of domestic society, 
—as truly belonging to the nation as the family,— 
unites personal and political lessons, that individuals 
and nations may know their relations and obligations 
to the King of kings and Lord of lords. The priv¬ 
ileges and duties of personal religion call no one out 
of his place in the body politic; no privileges and 
duties of the body politic are at variance, are other- 


8 


wise than in harmony, with personal religion. In 
the present case, how religious the political lesson! 
how personal the social appeal! how universal the 
individual call! and yet to what due regard to all 
political relations! 

This connection of religion with the state, existing 
independently of the formalities and legal sanctions 
of a state religion, is unexpressed in our Constitution, 
—not because the American Republic was intended 
to be separate from religion, but because Christianity 
existed as the acknowledged, undisputed, universal 
religion of the land, however inconsistently and 
imperfectly obeyed. And this actual adhesion to 
Christianity,—as in each house of mourning, each 
family, each gathered neighborhood, at each death, 
from day to day and from year to year,—how man¬ 
ifest is it now, how vigorous, and how imperatively 
requiring the forms and the lessons of Christianity! 
No other subject is suitable to the house of mourning, 
but the rules and hopes of the Christian religion; 
thus at least ever pervading our land in the constant 
succession, in the universal extension, of death. No 
other subject is suitable to this great national mourn¬ 
ing, from the fourth of April to this hour, when the 
millions of the nation are met to take to themselves 
the forms of Christian worship, and the lessons of 
Christian instruction. “ Come unto me, all ye that 
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” 
“ It is appointed unto men once to die, and after this 
the judgment; but to them that look for him will he 
appear the second time, without sin, unto salvation.” 
“ So teach us to number our days that we may apply 
our hearts to wisdom.” No other notes but these 


9 


are in harmony with the sentiments of the gathered 
throng in this our national mourning, roused by 
death in the highest place of our land. There is no 
religion of the state; and yet the state, in all its 
millions, is moved by one impulse to Christian tem¬ 
ples, to Christian worship, to Christian instruction. 
There is no religion of the state; and yet the head of 
the state, “ in conformity with the general expecta¬ 
tion and feelings,” calls the people to the services of 
religion. No other note were in unison with the 
tone of the public mind, but that of the religious 
sentiment spontaneous in the breast of the President 
of the United States. Where else could he have 
called the nation to-day, in sympathy with a mourn¬ 
ing people, but to Christian temples? to what other 
services, but to Christian worship and instruction? 
and on whom to aid and direct in the high purposes 
of this day, but on the ministers of Christ? 

With regard to our part in the lesson to millions, 
—in the personal and political lesson,—in the re¬ 
ligious lesson to us as individuals and as a part of 
the nation,—at this national call , I feel an unusual 
interest. May I say that I am this day an officer of 
the government of the United States, in your behalf, 
holding an acknowledged and high place among the 
public functionaries of the land,—having a charge in 
those great arrangements by which communities are 
blessed,—entrusted with those solemn lessons which 
the civil power cannot fail to urge upon the people, 
—required, by every feeling of regard to my country 
and my countrymen, to urge the commands on 
which the welfare of nations and individuals de¬ 
pends,—to call each of the people and all the people 


10 


to those principles and ordinances which belong to 
us in our favored condition as a Christian nation. 
In the call we obey to-day, the ecclesiastical power 
is acknowledged co-ordinate with the civil in the 
government of our land. The President has done 
his part in calling us to religious services; I and my 
co-officials have our co-ordinate part, in obedience 
to his call; and you, as in this visible compliance, 
in these solemn obsequies, in these forms of the 
sanctuary, indicate your intention to do yours. Let 
us hearken and obey. 

It is peculiarly happy, that the religious sentiment 
which is felt universally on such an occasion, has 
no check or hindrance in the character of the de¬ 
ceased,—that his acknowledged worth before he 
reached his high office, and his conduct in it, show 
him to a mourning people as a Christian man; him¬ 
self, at the height of his exaltation, expressing the 
sentiments and desires, and doing the deeds, which 
were suited to one so near the end of all earthly 
prosperity,—so near his own last account to the 
King of kings and Lord of lords; leaving an exam¬ 
ple in harmony with the religious sentiment aroused 
by his death. I would be ready to honor, for the 
sake of his office, even an unworthy chief magistrate, 
and to pass in silence and sadness his irreligion, 
amidst those solemn impressions which such a death 
would not fail to make; but I rejoice, amidst the 
impressions and lessons of this day, in the testimony 
that our late President was a man of great excellence 
of character,—that he honored and reverenced the 
Christian religion,—that the Bible had been his daily 
study, more especially for the last twenty years,— 


11 


that he drew his religious intentions and decisions 
from his mother’s lessons to his childhood,—that in 
the very room where he was born, and where he had 
kneeled beside his mother, praying for Heaven’s 
blessing on his life, he prepared his recommendation 
of the Christian religion, “ as the source of all true 
and lasting happiness,” to the nation over which he 
was called to rule,—that his first preparations for 
the due exercise of his office were the purchase of a 
Bible and Prayer-book for his daily use,—that when 
he had passed through the ceremonies of his inaugu¬ 
ration, and returned from the Capitol to the splendid 
dwelling provided by the nation, he retired to his 
chamber, to fall upon his knees before his Maker, 
thanking him for his mercies, and praying for his 
gracious guidance in the faithful discharge of the 
duties of his high station to his country and his God, 
—and that, as had been his habit in all former times, 
so as the Chief Magistrate, he worshipped with all 
the expressions of a devout and true worshipper in 
the temple of his God and Saviour, and had declared 
his resolution at the next opportunity to bind him¬ 
self to all Christian duties and privileges, in the 
sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. 

Though these distinct and striking marks of 
religious character had been wanting, this solemn 
event would give a deep religious lesson to our 
country; but I cannot express my thankfulness that 
this first instance of national bereavement,—of the 
death of a President in office,—should have furnished 
all these memorials of a deep sense of religion, of 
character influenced by its solemn truths, and of that 
growing regard to its principles and privileges which 


12 


were an evident preparation for his end; and that 
we mark his course so pleasantly, as the path of 
the just, shining brighter and brighter to the perfect 
day; that this death should be such a parallel to the 
death of the first President,—of Washington,—re¬ 
newing the impressions produced by his moral and 
religious worth, and by those Christian sentiments 
diffused over all his writings, which must pass down 
to future times, urged on us and on our descendants 
by all the regard which a nation feels for the Father 
of his country. The deaths of Washington and 
Harrison, sealing up the testimony of their lives, will 
unite to distant times in exalting a mother’s care, 
and a son’s regard to the law of his mother, as the 
means of forming the future man,—the word of God, 
and prayer, and the house of God, and the hopes and 
fears of Christianity, to many generations; and with¬ 
out the name, they have taken their part in that 
blessed work which prophecy assigns to those who 
rule among men,—the church growing, and strength¬ 
ened, and purified, by their paternal care. “ Kings 
shall be thy nursing-fathers, and queens thy nursing- 
mothers.” Be it ours, to-day, with our whole 
country, in view of these eminent witnesses to the 
truth and excellence of our holy religion, and under 
the impressions of this great national mourning, to 
learn of him who teacheth us to profit,—that leadeth 
us in the way we should go; to hearken to his com¬ 
mandments, that our peace may be like a river, and 
our righteousness like the waves of the sea. 

I proceed to notice, 1. The personal lesson, as of 
every death, and now common to all the individuals 
of the nation. 2. The lesson to the nation as such, 


13 


and to us as members of the body politic. 3. The 
harmony of both. 

1. The personal lesson. At the house of mourning, 
men become their own teachers. The lesson of God’s 
providence and Spirit is met by the spontaneous 
promptings of their own thoughts; the law within, 
which seemed almost effaced, glows and burns. 
“This is the end of all men, and the living will lay 
it to his heart.” As if it were instinctively, death, 
whenever it occurs, the house of mourning, when¬ 
ever it is entered, rouses the consciences of men, im¬ 
presses the vanity of all earthly good, and wakens the 
desire of an enduring portion; and, in a Christian 
land, fixes the mind on the great truth of another 
life, revealed in the Christian revelation. The most 
thoughtless think, the most unbelieving believe, the 
most fearless fear, the most indifferent are anxious, 
as if instinctively, by the sudden and true impulse of 
our moral natures, when death is seen. At the house 
of mourning, “the living lay it to^ heart,” and wish 
and promise to make ready for the summons, when 
soon and suddenly it may come. Our own hearts 
bear witness that it is so; ourselves having been so 
taught to profit from our earliest childhood, so led in 
the way we should go. And now this death of the 
ruler of our people—the common father of the whole 
nation—conspicuous to millions—amidst the highest 
earthly prosperity—almost as soon as he reached that 
envied summit; with almost no forewarning; met 
by the Son of Man amidst his daily deeds, as he 
was; called to his last account, to his final reward; 
what a lesson to us! and in this national mourning, 
how, as if by a common instinct we could not help 
2 


14 


it, do we, for the moment, lay to heart the end of 
all men ; the vanity of all earthly things; the im¬ 
mense importance of an enduring portion, of the 
word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. 
As if by the sudden instinct of our moral nature, 
how have we said, how do we say, “Man at his 
best state is altogether vanity,” and if but for the 
moment, “And now, Lord, what wait I for? My 
hope is in thee.” Even so we have felt, as the glory 
has passed away, and the chief ruler of the people 
has gone down so soon, so suddenly, before our eyes, 
to the very dust of death. Alas, how the contrast 
dwells upon our thoughts, as something we cannot 
get rid of—between the glory of his inauguration and 
the power of his exalted office, and the gloom and 
helplessness of the sick man’s chamber,—of the dying 
man’s bed—of the dead man’s grave; the hand 
paralyzed which could move the nation from east to 
west, from north to south; which could move the 
whole family of nations; the tongue silent, the mind 
wandering, broken, gone, as the vapor passes away; 
the mighty utterly fallen, and the weapons of war 
perished,—calling a nation to know their end,—every 
man to seek an enduring portion,—to make God his 
trust,—to do his will, and thus to be ready for the 
last summons. Happily, most happily, the lesson to 
which death call us; and such a death ! at the height 
of human glory; to which the death of the ruler 
calls each of the ruled,—the lesson of our national 
mourning, as impressive and urgent, as instinctively 
felt,—the lesson which our own heart prompts, so 
wont to be silenced and refused,—the law unto our¬ 
selves now renewed, and brightened, and even burning 


15 


within us; this lesson of death, was the lesson of 
the closing life of our departed ruler. 

His example, and especially after, by his election, 
he was our prospective head, and when for one short 
month he was the ruler of the people,—his example 
calls us to the Bible as the rule of life, and our guide 
to immortality; to prayer, as the only method by 
which we can obtain wisdom for life, and for death, 
and for eternity; to public worship, as the great, 
institution by which we may be urged and aided in 
personal religion; and to a mother’s prayers and 
lessons, cherished in the heart even to a virtuous old 
age, which passes away on the height to which it 
is exalted, like the fading twilight of an autumnal 
evening, rather as the daybreak and morning of a 
happy eternity. 

And this lesson of the house of mourning, of 
sudden death, of the vanity of man at his best state; 
this deep sense of what we lack—though the whole 
world were ours—and of what we need, to be ready 
to die; of the value of the word of God, which lives, 
and gives life for ever; this lesson to ourselves, how is 
it made more powerful still, as we mingle with the 
multitude taught with us to-day, laying to heart the 
end of all men ! 

Scarcely more impressive were the sight, than the 
vivid conception of the millions of our nation, assem¬ 
bled in the house of prayer, as a house of mourning, 
laying their end to heart; “ with one accord, joining in 
humble and reverential approach to him in whose 
hands we are, and invoking him to inspire us with a 
proper spirit and temper of heart and mind, under 
the frown of his providence.” Millions of the people, 


16 


each for himself, prompted to seek for a new heart, 
a right spirit, and to all the duties of a Christian 
life, in preparation for death and a resurrection to 
eternal life. 

This lesson of personal religion, of personal prep¬ 
aration to die, is so much the more important, as 
addressed to the whole nation at once; and to us, 
gathered with the millions of our people in this great 
national mourning, in view of the hindrance to 'per¬ 
sonal religion, which we cannot fail to see in the 
prevalent regard to our political relations. We shall 
have to say that politics and religion support and 
aid each other, but not in that false position in which 
we are too wont to regard all national matters. 
Alas, to care for the state, as if it depended on man, 
and not on him who ruleth over all; to attempt 
our part as citizens, without a reference to God’s 
supremacy; to claim all blessings from the form of 
our government, or from the men who administer it, 
is to adopt atheism and idolatry instead of Chris¬ 
tianity ; is to forsake the Lord our God who teacheth 
us to profit, and, instead of peace like a river, is to 
prepare for the curse, “ There is no peace, saith the 
Lord, to the wicked.” O, yes; we needed a personal 
lesson from the highest station in the land, lest the 
atheism in which we too readily sympathize with a 
self-glorying people, should separate us personally 
and for ever from the Lord our God. We needed 
such a lesson as God in his mercy has given us, that 
our ruler should go down to the grave from his high 
station, not only showing us the vanity of man at 
his best state, but in the acknowledgement of God 
as the only source and security of national blessings; 


17 


of Christianity as the life and the light of man; in 
the remembrance of the lessons on his childhood, 
and closing all the path in which the Lord had led 
him, in the study of the Bible, and prayer, and at the 
temple of divine worship. Let us profit by the 
personal lesson which God has given us, suited to 
our need, with an instructed nation. Gather up, as 
Harrison did on his last journey, the lessons of earli¬ 
est childhood, and join them to the lessons of your 
lifetime. Take the Bible and the Prayer-book to 
your chamber, and use them for yourself, for your 
instruction and aid, in that very chamber where you 
may so soon be called to suffer the pains of decaying 
nature; so soon be stretched out, a helpless and dying 
man,—where so soon you may be summoned by 
your Lord and Master from your service here, to 
render your account. Come to God’s house and 
adopt its method of piety, its way of approach to 
God, its mould for the heart and character, pledging 
yourselves to all the ordinances of your God. Thus 
lay to heart the end of all men, bearing a true and 
honest part in this great national mourning; true 
and honest to yourselves, to the law within, glowing 
and burning anew in your own bosoms, true and 
honest to the lessons of the Lord your God, known 
and acknowledged from on high, teaching you to 
profit. Then, my assembled townsmen, shall you 
have peace like a river, and righteousness like the 
waves of the sea, now, boundless and for ever. 

2. The lesson to the nation,—to us, as members 
of the body politic. 

The instinctive movement of our moral and re¬ 
ligious sentiments at the sight of death, the sponta- 
2 * 


18 


neous starting in our minds of just and true views 
of ourselves and our Creator, of time and eternity, 
that laying to heart the end of all men, in the house 
of mourning, is not confined to our individual con¬ 
dition, but reaches also our relations to society, to 
the nation, to mankind. How suddenly we wake, 
thus, to see not only what we are, and whither we 
are going, hut to all the just and right principles 
which belong to dying, and yet permanent society; 
to the nation into which we were born, from which 
we shall die. Especially at the death of a ruler, at 
the sudden death, and more especially of a ruler 
wise and good, the image of good government for 
a dying and yet perpetuated race, rises before the 
mind, and the whole nation, as by an instinctive 
movement, by the spontaneous starting of just and 
true views, perceives and lays to heart the only 
principles of national welfare. The Lord our God 
teaches us to profit thus, in this great national mourn¬ 
ing; suddenly rousing us, amidst our undue regard 
to mere special and minor questions, to the great 
principles on which the happiness of communities 
depends, and at the very beginning of a new admin¬ 
istration, before our party spirit shall have taken its 
blind sides upon the actual measures of government. 
Happily for the more perfect lesson, the ruler we 
have lost, in view of all parties, was honest and 
well-intentioned: had approved himself to all parties, 
and been the devotee of none, in offices of great 
public importance; and had laid before the nation 
on taking his high place, just and right principles ; 
and preventing our prejudices, he has died amidst the 
light of his previous history, of a life unconnected 


19 


with our party strifes, on the mere statement of his 
principles. 

And now these principles stand before our quicken¬ 
ed minds, so true, so just, so honorable, so Christian, 
that no man gainsays them; that all instinctively, 
spontaneously desire that they may be consecrated 
for ages. True, the father of his country, Washing¬ 
ton, left us a still more glorious legacy, viz., such 
principles exemplified in a long course of supreme 
military and civil government, and stated and urged 
upon the people in voluminous documents, suited to 
the occasions of his administration, but of such per¬ 
manent worth, that they will endure for ever as a 
blessing to his country. But Harrison at the very 
entrance of his office, leaves us all that he can 
leave,—those ancient principles stated in his inaugu¬ 
ral address, and manifest in his previous history,— 
and is snatched from us before we can bring his 
consistency or his capacity in question; if haply the 
nation may be quickened to discern, to embrace, and 
to hold fast true and right principles, for their pres¬ 
ent welfare and for the good of all ages. 

With these quickened views of good government, 
there must needs occur the remembrance of our 
'political faults , roused by the divine lesson and 
rebuke, by the death of our ruler, in this national 
mourning; and first of all, that leading fault, undue 
confidence in frail and feeble man, which is but atheism 
and idolatry; our over-confident expectations from the 
men we do or would exalt, our over-timid fears from 
the men whom we do or would depress, and our 
forgetfulness of him, who putteth down and setteth 
up according to his pleasure, working as he will, by 


20 


whom he will. We learn to-day, with our own 
quickened thoughts, not to forsake our place as the 
citizens of an elective government, but we do learn 
that when we have given our several voices accord¬ 
ing to what to us seems right, when we have set the 
man of our choice in the highest place, that God 
decides how far and how long he shall serve 
us, and no farther and no longer than belongs 
to his subordinate place, beneath the King of kings 
and the Lord of lords. How rapidly, how trium¬ 
phantly was our late ruler exalted, amidst our over¬ 
confident expectations, our over-timid fears of what 
a man could do; alas, amidst our forgetfulness, too 
much, of him who ruleth over all! How suddenly, 
and with what awful sovereignty, has he been laid 
low in the dust of death! The pageantry of his 
triumph, how soon changed into the pageantry of 
his utter overthrow ! And the people’s voice, sound¬ 
ing like the noise of many waters, like the ocean in its 
majesty and strength, how it bore him on to his high 
place; the sovereign people placing over themselves, 
and for themselves, the man who should secure their 
well-being, almost as if he were a god! And how 
soon are we sitting under the rule of another , whom 
the sovereign Lord has set over us. May I not say 
with truth, while I join the general welcome of our 
new Chief Magistrate as worthy of his high office, 
that he holds it specially and entirely from on high , 
and without the choice of the American people ; that 
we have a President now in office who was never a 
candidate, probably not even an aspirant, for the 
high station which he holds; and that we had scarce 
thought of him as having the contingent prospect of 


21 


his present place. How has death instructed us; 
how in this national mourning do we lay to heart 
the supremacy of God, manifest amidst the frailty of 
man! “God is the judge. He putteth down one, 
and setteth up another.” 

And yet this forgotten lesson, how plain it was 
before, how plain it will be hereafter, we see as we 
feel, how plain it is. How contrary this over-confi¬ 
dence in man, this over-fear of man, this atheism 
and idolatry, to our actual condition, as a frail and 
dying race, and to those plain lessons of Scripture, 
which we feel instinctively, spontaneously to-day; to 
those bright and burning lines which glow within us : 
—“Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of 
man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth 
forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his 
thoughts perish. Happy is he that hath the God of 
Jacob for his help.” How contrary to the lessons 
taught to the Israelites in the wilderness, at the 
tabernacle, at the temple, and in their captivity; 
and to Nebuchadnezzar, returning from eating grass 
like oxen, to acknowledge the Most High as doing 
according to his will in the army of heaven, and 
among the inhabitants of the earth ! How contrary, 
too, to all the lessons of our own national history, 
of our feeble colonies, growing stronger and stronger, 
under the manifest favor of the Almighty, prevail¬ 
ing over their enemies beyond all human power 
and skill; of our revolutionary struggle, learned so 
deeply by the man who felt himself to be but the 
humble instrument of Providence, taught to say as 
he entered on the office of first President, “No 
people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the 


22 


invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men, 
more than the people of the United States. Every 
step by which they have advanced to the character 
of an independent nation, seems to have been dis¬ 
tinguished by some token of providential agency; ” 
and amidst the acclamations which attended his 
prosperous administration, to perceive that the people 
were too ready “to impute to the government, what 
was due only to the goodness of Providence.” How 
contrary to Harrison’s acknowledgement of the aid 
of that almighty Power, which had protected and 
enabled him; and to his earnest exhortation :—“ To 
that good Being, who watched over and prospered 
the labors of our fathers, let us unite in fervently 
commending every interest of our beloved country 
in all future time.” Nay, how contrary is our polit¬ 
ical atheism and idolatry, to the symbol of our 
nation, intended by our fathers to remain for our 
instruction or rebuke in all ages. If the Eagle 
soaring to the stars, be the symbol of vigor and 
advancement, the Reverse of our national seal, so 
readily left in ignorance or oblivion, is the symbol of 
our dependence upon the God of heaven, of our 
grateful acknowledgement of his favor. So careful 
were our fathers to provide against our forgetfulness 
of God’s providence, in the ages of durable prosper¬ 
ity which they anticipated for their race, that they 
gave us for an everlasting sign, a Pyramid, rising 
and unfinished, with the eye of Heaven looking on in 
glory, and underneath the national acknowledgement, 
Annuit Coeptis, God has prospered our beginnings. 
Let this be our motto, and ages will be measured 
from the “New American Era,” mdcclxxvi. 


23 


From this political atheism and idolatry, this vain- 
con fidence in ourselves and our rulers—there proceed 
other faults, which could not prevail if we trusted in 
the Lord our God as ruler over the nation. From 
this pride cometh contention. Pride hath budded, 
and a rod of violence hath issued forth. From this 
unbelief—this forsaking the Lord our Rock, springs 
the vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah— 
whose grapes are grapes of gall, and their clusters 
bitter—and their wine the poison of dragons, and the 
cruel venom of asps ! What else is party spirit—but 
the spirit of pride and contention and violence, of 
unkindness and injustice ? And what else do we see 
it to-day with our quickened sight—prompted by the 
sudden bereavement—amidst this great national 
mourning? As if by the instinctive movement of 
our moral and religious sentiments—by the sudden 
starting of just and true views of national as well as 
personal well-being, the Lord our God teaches us 
to profit. Ah, it has been thought too much—it has 
been said too often, that party spirit is the safeguard 
of the country—the security of our institutions—the 
preserver of our liberties; instead as now it seems— 
instead as now it declares itself, in the legacy of Har¬ 
rison to his countrymen, as a deadly evil—and 
threatening “consequences appalling to be thought 
of.” And it has been forgotten too deeply and too 
long—that “ it is union that we want; not of a party 
for the sake of that party, but a union of the whole 
country for the sake of the whole country.” 

Of course I mean by party spirit, the spirit of pride 
and contention and violence—and not the spirit of all 
independent and honest minds—of all true-thinking 


24 


and right-minded men—not the honest and kind 
differences of opinion and conduct which may exist 
among a people to their advantage—when I reiterate 
the warning voice, as of the living and the dead, that 
party spirit threatens consequences to our country 
“ appalling to be thought of.”—O, let us not flatter 
ourselves, that the heat of party strife is but the 
seeming of unkindness and violence—is but the 
momentary effervescence of fraternal difference, from 
which good and not evil is sure to ensue: and that 
we may renew these strifes and he safe and be bene¬ 
fited—in times and ages yet to come. Alas! it 
cannot he otherwise than those ominous words fore¬ 
warn—over the grave of Harrison—and filling all 
the house of our national mourning: “ Consequences 
will ensue which are appalling to be thought of.” 

The proverb is as true to the nation as to the indi¬ 
vidual, 11 The beginning of strife is as when one 
letteth out water. Therefore leave off contention 
before it be meddled with.” Alas, what if we give 
advantage to our pride, and the violence which it 
brings forth—by saying that party strife is for the 
good of the nation—what, if we adopt party spirit as 
the safeguard of the state—who shall secure us against 
consequences “appalling to be thought of,”—against 
feuds and civil wars as wide spread as the nation? re¬ 
quiring and establishing amidst the confusion the right 
of the strongest. Who shall secure us from the head¬ 
long torrent which may break forth at this outlet— 
the rushing deluge which shall overwhelm all our 
institutions and sweep away every vestige of rights 
and privileges received from our fathers ?. . . Safe, 
comparatively till now, we may have been—but who 


25 


shall ensure us safely in the time to come ? Safely 
we have passed through the contest which raised 
Harrison to the Presidency; but Avho shall ensure 
that we pass another contest as safely, if we repent 
not of our party strife—if we lay not aside the prin¬ 
ciple of party spirit ? And who shall make us sure 
that when the sea of popular passion was rolling and 
tossing but a few months ago, that it needed more 
than the touch of the foot to let out those mad floods, 
beyond control, until they had made desolate the 
heritage of our fathers—and that the highest wisdom 
of Harrison is not seen, in his discernment of the 
danger, and his highest patriotism, in that ominous 
forewarning of “ consequences of party spirit appall¬ 
ing to be thought of:” in that noble demand of 
union — 11 not of party for the sake of party, but 
of the whole country for the sake of the whole 
country.” 

It is owing, too, to our over-confidence in man—to 
our over-fear of man—and to our lack of faith in 
God, and of the fear of God as the Sovereign of the 
state, the security of the commonwealth—to our 
political atheism and idolatry—when we betake our¬ 
selves to measures for men, which are contrary to 
just and right principles, to the will and word of 
God—when in any sense we do evil that good may 
come: how instinctively are we taught this—how 
spontaneously do our own thoughts condemn meas¬ 
ures which have met too much the popular approval; 
how, under the impression of sudden death, in this 
national mourning, do we see that no more in political 
than in personal affairs, does the end sanctify the 
means: that as members of the body politic, as well 
3 


26 


as individuals, we are bound to whatsoever things 
are true, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever 
things are of good report :*—that election frauds and 
falsehoods, urged at the crisis, are not justified by 
any purpose, however good, and that they must bring, 
in their final results, the most bitter fruits. 

I shall not allow myself to doubt that the public 
sentiment will go with me in applying this principle, 
which forbids electioneering frauds and falsehoods, 
to electioneering follies also —in. saying, Do not fool¬ 
ishly , any more than evil, that good may come. I 
feel sure that this death , so soon after Harrison was 
raised to his high place—that this great national 
mourning, so soon after the urgent efforts, and the 
acclamations amidst which he rose—have aroused 
an instinctive sense of propriety—that we feel a 
spontaneous regret that the election should have 
shown any indications of folly—that there were any 
things foolish perpetrated for effect, “ that good 
might come.” 

I am the more ready to make this remark upon the 
past, in view of the dignified character of Harrison, 
and of the chastened and reverential regard which 
the whole nation feels for him; not only as a man of 
stem integrity, but of the highest propriety and 
courtesy—a dignified gentleman, as well as a high- 
minded patriot. Amidst our mourning for his loss, 
who can help regretting, that his name and history 


* “I am no politician. It is sufficient for me that the thing 
ought to be done. The consequences of it are with truth and 
Providence.”— Gen. Harrison’s answer to a question on a measure 
with reference to his election. (See Rev. E. Peabody’s Eulogy.) 



27 


have been connected by our momentary policy, with 
aught that was not worthy of his true dignity as a 
Christian gentleman, as well as with the high place 
to which he was exalted. Happy for the nation, if 
their regrets to-day leave upon their minds the abid¬ 
ing decision—worthy to be connected with the pro¬ 
priety and courtesy of Harrison—that they will 
neither adopt nor sanction any measures in raising 
men to office, which are unworthy at once of the 
dignity of the people, and of the character of those 
who are worthy to rule over them: not only that 
they will not do wrong to bring to pass the right, 
but that they will not do foolishly to exalt the 
wise. 

I may close this notice of the lessons to us as a 
nation—as members of the body politic—instinctively 
felt amidst our national mourning—in which I do 
but aim to fix impression, and direct in the path to 
which all feel themselves drawn—by referring to that 
reverence for our rulers, which has been the sponta¬ 
neous movement of the people—not merely as our 
appointment and our choice—but on the true ground 
at last as divinely set over us; the reverence for Harri¬ 
son, the departed President, by those who opposed as 
well as by those who promoted his election—and the 
reverence for Tyler, whom God has raised up and 
set in his high place, without the aid of any party , 
without and above the appointment of the people— 
not as men whom the people appoint, because they 
have submitted, and promise for ever to submit to 
the will of the people—not because they are the gov¬ 
erned, but the governors appointed by the Most 
High. Surely, the people have erred, have misun- 


28 


derstood the nature of all governments, when they 
have claimed it as belonging to our government, that 
the people are the rulers, and their rulers are the 
ruled; that when men are chosen by the people to 
office, those very people are to direct the exercise of 
that office; that the magistracy are their ministers, 
and not God’s ministers for good; that government 
is only by the people, and not for the people. It is 
no honor to our form of government, to dishonor thus 
the government which the people set over themselves 
—to claim that an elective government is no govern¬ 
ment at all, but the mere creature of the people 
who need wise and righteous government—the mere 
will of the people to-day, and the mere will of the 
people to-morrow—that the governor is governed by 
the pledge required before, and the instructions given 
after, his election—instead of the independent, dili¬ 
gent, studious and wise ruler, worthy to be elected 
by a great and enlightened people. 

3. The union of personal and public profit in the 
lesson of this day. 

If you take the personal lesson—if you lay to 
heart the end of all men—if you do the Saviour’s 
will here, and thus are found ready when the Son of 
man shall come—if, as fathers and mothers, you bind 
the laws on your hands, and on your foreheads, and 
write them on your door-posts and on your gates— 
and as children obey your parents in the Lord be¬ 
cause it is right, even to old age and to death living 
upon their nurture and admonition—if you hearken 
to him who teacheth you to profit, and your own peace 
become like a river, and your righteousness like the 
waves of the sea, you shall give strength and beau- 


29 


ty to the state—yon shall give life and vigor to the 
nation now, and after you are dead—its sons, by 
your means, in ages to come, proving like youthful 
plants, and its daughters like corner-stones. When 
you perish like the flowers and the grass, you shall 
leave in more vigorous growth the word of God 
which endureth for ever. Each right-minded citi¬ 
zen, true to the law and the gospel by which the 
individual is to be saved amidst dying generations, 
is the best benefactor to the commonwealth; and 
as such individuals increase, so as to exert a com¬ 
manding influence in favor of truth and righteous¬ 
ness, are the blessings of the state secured unto 
distant times. Be true to yourselves, form your 
own character, and you will do the utmost possible to 
establish the state in ages and ages yet to come. 

What a sublime direction to our personal religion, 
as we lay to heart the end of all men, here in 
this national mourning—as we choose the word 
of God, under the deepest sense that all flesh is as 
grass and all the goodliness thereof as the flower of 
the field—as we take the God of Jacob for our help 
—when the princes die, when their breath goeth 
forth, and their thoughts perish. They that remem¬ 
ber the lessons of their youth and teach them to their 
children amidst the ordinances of their God, show 
his strength unto their own generation, and his 
power to every one that is to come. 

If you take, on the other hand, the political lesson 
—if you cease from man whose breath is in his nos¬ 
trils, and acknowledge God as the King of kings and 
Lord of lords, on whose providence the welfare of 
our nation as of all nations depends—if you ac- 
3 * 


30 


knowledge that God puts down and sets up whom 
he will, and that all elective agency is at the higher 
disposal of his righteous providence, and all pros¬ 
perity by elected men at his giving—if, forsaking the 
false pride of the sovereign people, you cease to say, 
Is not this great Babylon that I have built?—and in 
the depth of an instructed spirit acknowledge 
that the Most High ruleth in the affairs of men, 
you shall secure your eternal life. Be sure if you do 
this truly, like Nebuchadnezzar after his rebuke and 
discipline, or like Daniel and like Nehemiah in the 
habitual tone and temper of their minds, then shall 
your political wisdom and virtue become your per¬ 
sonal salvation. Christian patriotism is personal 
religion. Politics and piety become one, in the 
heart taught by God’s discipline with rulers and their 
people—in “ the living, when they know that the 
Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth 
it to whomsoever he will: and praise, and extol, and 
honor the King of heaven, all whose works are truth 
and his ways judgment, and those who will walk in 
pride he is able to abase when they seek the pub¬ 
lic weal and do their part in the public service, 
praying before the God of heaven, night and day, 
desiring to fear his name, and keeping his command¬ 
ments. Be such a politician as shall make you a 
Christian in all your wishes, and plans, and doings, 
for the well-being of the state, and you shall pass 
away from the fields on which you are as frail and 
fading as the grass and the flowers, into unfading 
and immortal life. Be such a Christian as shall 
make you the truest, noblest patriot, and when you 
pass away from the vanity of man’s best state, to 


31 


your eternal and enduring glory, you shall bequeath 
a light to the commonwealth, whose members are 
all fading and dying, which shall endure through 
many generations; and constitute a living and life- 
giving community for ages to come. 

This harmony of personal and political lessons— 
this union of individual and national profit—of peace 
flowing like a river, of righteousness like the waves 
of the sea—how manifest in the last accounts of 
Harrison—in that sweet, that sublime blending of 
patriotism and piety in his closing life : so devoted 
to the interests of the nation as became one waiting 
for the summons of his Lord, for his final reward; 
and so devoted to personal religion, as to do his 
utmost for the well-being of the nation ... On his 
journey to the seat of government, to take upon him¬ 
self the public service, he sought the pure fountains 
of his childhood, as the spring-head of all personal 
and national peace; and in the chamber of his birth 
and of his mother’s lessons and prayers, prepared his 
official recommendation of the Christian religion as 
the essential source “of all true and lasting happi¬ 
ness,” teaching the fathers and mothers of America 
how they may train their children for the future 
citizens and rulers of the state and for eternal glory; 
renewing in our eyes the vision of the mother of 
Washington and her obedient son... On his entrance 
upon his office he fell on his knees before his Maker, 
that he might.find grace to be faithful as the head 
of the commonwealth ; and took to himself, not only 
as a private individual, but as a public officer—as 
the President of the United States —the bible, as the 
source of his personal hopes in death and of all “ true 


32 


and lasting happiness ” for his country. Be that 
the Bible—how significantly laid upon his coffin!—in 
which, according to his intention, shall be inscribed, 
“the gift of the People of the United States to the 
President of the United States;” and let it pass down 
to his successors, as their light and their salvation! 
—as the light and salvation of the state !—and be 
it ours who are moved and urged by such an exam¬ 
ple, to join the millions of our dying countrymen in 
a more diligent study and welcome of the word of 
God.... He commenced his public career by taking to 
his daily use the forms of public worship, and at its 
appointed seasons worshipped in the house of prayer 
for all people; and has passed away, we may hope, 
from the worship of earth, to the worship of heaven 
forever; leaving his example to bless the millions 
of our population, and millions yet unborn; requir¬ 
ing throughout our land the flowing to the hill of the 
Lord of multitudes of people, saying one to another, 
“ Come ye and let us go up to the house of the Lord, 
for he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in 
his paths.” 

“It is the Lord our God which teacheth us to 
profit.” The lesson is enough. From the chief 
ruler of the land, to the most humble citizen, and 
even to the children who join in this great national 
mourning, there is not one, who feels not the spon¬ 
taneous apprehension, the instinctive discernment, 
of the lesson:—the lesson which the President of the 
United States has uttered from the promptings of his 
own mind, in “conformity with the feelings” of 
the people of the United States: and as here, so over 
all our land, the people, as a people, are met in their 


33 


affliction in visible turning unto the Lord their God, 
with prayers, and songs, and welcomed lessons, 
binding themselves and their families to the word of 
God, to the house of God, and to all truth and right¬ 
eousness therein. The lesson is enough. “ It is the 
Lord our God which teacheth us to profit, which 
leadeth us in the way that we should go.” What is 
wanting,but that we hearken to his commandments? 
Or recurring to those points of example which this 
death has made conspicuous, what is wanting, but 
that we remember in our maturity and our age the 
religious lessons of our childhood, and transmit those 
lessons to our children and our children’s children, 
making the chamber of our birth and our parental 
care radiant with the light of life from age to age 
—that we take the Bible to our hearts as our stay, 
and comfort, and guide, along the path of life, 
and so much the more as difficulties and responsi¬ 
bilities increase—that at each new necessity we 
give ourselves to prayer and take for our aid the 
help which ages have furnished from and with God’s 
word—that we come conscientiously, statedly, de¬ 
voutly, to the house of God—and that we resolve at 
the earliest opportunity to bind ourselves to all the 
duties and privileges of the Christian life, in the 
Lord’s supper—and that whether life be longer or 
shorter, we endeavor with sound principles to do our 
duty, in the fear of God and by his grace. Then, 
as we must hope, with all these signs upon our de¬ 
parted President, it is with him, so with us, there 
will be peace like a river and righteousness like the 
waves of the sea: at least, upon each one who shall 
thus hearken to the commandments of the Lord— 


34 


peace on earth—peace bequeathed to those who may 
be left when death shall come, and peace for ever— 
and O, might it be so that on any public scale we 
might hearken to the commandments of the Lord in 
this visitation—by hundreds here—by thousands 
—and even millions every where—as becomes a 
Christian people, then should peace flow like a river 
through our land from age to age, into the boundless 
sea of righteousness, where all the saints shall dwell 
in peace for ever. But should it be otherwise— 
should you go hence to forget, to leave undone the 
commandments of the Lord—to forsake the lessons 
of your childhood—and to neglect to teach those 
lessons to your children—to neglect the Bible and 
secret prayer, and the house of God—should you 
pursue the paths of the wicked—there shall be no 
peace;—and if, as a people, we hearken not to the 
commandments of our God, urged and impressed 
upon us in this great national mourning—if we re¬ 
turn to our atheism and idolatry—to our pride and 
violence—to our party spirit, and falsehood, and 
folly, not peace like a river, and righteousness like 
the waves of the sea, but ruin to all we hold dear, 
will hasten like an overwhelming deluge! 

The lessons of this day meet the millions of our 
country under a peculiar advantage; such as has 
not occurred before since we have been a nation—and 
to be compared with no other for forty-one years, 
when the nation met in solemn mourning on the 
death of Washington. A few in this assembly—and 
how very few—remember the 22d of February, 1800; 
how we met in solemn worship, and learned lessons 
of wisdom and piety, which this day makes fresh in 


35 


memory as though they were yesterday, and which, 
amidst all our errors, we have never utterly forgotten; 
how the example of Washington from that day has 
been eminent in our eyes; how we have been more 
mindful thereby of the first lessons to our child¬ 
hood, have more honored the Bible, and the Sab¬ 
bath, and the house of God, and all integrity and 
honesty and truth, and how we have been more care¬ 
ful to-day to lay to heart the end of all men, because 
we were taught to profit by the death of Washing¬ 
ton; profited, indeed, if we have hearkened to the 
divine commandments. In that great mourning, 
the pattern and resemblance of the present, the whole 
people were taught; but they and they only were 
profited, who hearkened to the commandments of 
their God, and imitated the example of the Father of 
his country. Passing by thousands to their last ac¬ 
count, or remaining scattered and few amidst a new 
generation—they only have found peace who have 
imitated the character of Washington ; and from the 
homes and temples of such a people have passed 
down the lessons and examples to the nation doubled 
and redoubled, flowing onward in a stream of peace 
to the ages which shall follow, to myriads and myri¬ 
ads of men. 

Even so may we hope and pray, that blessings, 
increasing as they flow, will proceed from the 
solemnities of this day, added to the solemnities of 
February 22d, 1S03—the memory of Harrison added 
to the memory of Washington—the religious memo¬ 
rials of both combining their light on the paths of the 
living, and the beds of the dying; upon the old men, 
who must soon die; and the children and youth, who 


36 


may live for half a century to come—enlightened in 
all their darkness and in their last darkness—at peace 
in all their trials, and in their last trial—by means of 
the death and the funeral of Harrison, added to the 
death and funeral of Washington; while that bless¬ 
ing shall not cease, which mothers, like those of 
Washington and Harrison, convey from generation to 
generation—which the word of God gives to dying 
men. 

And now, what more shall I say, closing this 
interesting solemnity, in which we are met with the 
millions of our land—each little community, like 
ourselves, with one accord gathered to the Lord’s 
house, to be taught his ways. I have never ad¬ 
dressed so universal a gathering of my townsmen 
before. At many a house of mourning, in your 
several neighborhoods, T must have met you all, and 
in that poor apology for the Lord’s house, in neigh¬ 
borhood meetings; but never before in the acknowl¬ 
edged and dedicated house of prayer—never before 
as in this great public mourning. What can I say, 
but, imitating the language of the text—O, that the 
people would hearken to the Lord their God! that 
they would obey those instinctive lessons—that 
bright and burning law within—that teaching of the 
Lord their God, which they feel to-day! that they 
would imitate the Christian patriotism, the patriotic 
Christianity—which shine in the life and death of 
Harrison—in the life and death of Washington! 
that our families may take their lesson from the 
mothers of Harrison and Washington, and from their 
illustrious sons; and that the people, in all their 
habitations, would study the Bible, and give them- 


37 


selves to prayer, like Washington and Harrison, and 
thus cherish the lessons of their childhood, and thus 
prepare themselves for the daily duties, amidst the 
daily uncertainties of life; that, as you do to-day , 
they would throng the house of prayer, and in all 
the order, and peace, and piety of a Christian people, 
flow onward to the worship and purity of the eternal 
temple. 

And if I could address the millions of our land in 
this great national mourning, it should be with the 
same call to a Christian patriotism, so honest, so 
sincere, so true, so right, so trusting in our God and 
Saviour, as should prove the individual salvation; 
and to a personal piety, so pure, and lovely, and 
true, and steadfast, and of such good report, as shall 
prove the glory and the stability of the state; that 
the countrymen of Harrison and Washington take 
to their daily use the word of God, and give them¬ 
selves to daily prayer, to the religious care of their 
families, and the religious recollections of their child¬ 
hood, and to the house of God and the ordinances 
thereof, as the only means and method of blessing to 
our present millions, and to the countless multitudes, 
who in the generations to come are to fill the land 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 


4 


APPENDIX. 


PRINCIPLES AND CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON. 


“ Let his countrymen consecrate the memory of the heroic General, the patri¬ 
otic statesman and the virtuous sage : Let them teach their children that the 
fruits of his labors and example are their inheritance.”— Address of Senate to the 
President of the United Stales on the death of Washington. 

“ His example is now complete ; and it will teach wisdom and virtue to 
magistrates, citizens, and men, not only in the present age, but in future gen¬ 
erations as long as our history shall be read.”— President Adams’ reply to the 
Senate, Dec., 1799. 

The lapse of a century, on Wednesday next, the 22d of 
February, 1832, since the birth of Washington, will consecrate 
that day to the remembrance of the civil, moral and religious 
blessings, which the Father of his country bequeathed to 
his children, we trust, to the remotest generations. We do not 
undervalue the more obvious benefits which belong to that in¬ 
heritance, when we say that the best bequest which Washington 
left to the American people and the world, the best gift of Prov¬ 
idence through him, is his character and principles. Happy the 
nation which asserts its right to self-government under such a 
leader! Thrice happy if from generation to generation its ris¬ 
ing youth and its matured population are made fit for self- 
government, by the adoption of his principles and the imitation 
of his character! Such a nation will not dishonor its disfran¬ 
chisement: such a nation will never fall by a haughty and self- 
confident spirit; by immorality and irreligion; but will rise from 
blessing to blessing, under the guidance and protection of the 
Almighty; happy in itself, and an example to the world. With 
these impressions, we feel called upon to meet our countrymen 
in view of the centennial birth-day of the father of his country: 
as will appear in the sequel in no discordance with our charac¬ 
ter as Observers of the times. 

The writer is at an age, which renders him peculiarly liable to 
deep impressions of the worth of Washington: and to an anxious 



39 


desire to see it copied into all the high and all the low places in 
our country. He was born at the period when the nation was 
preparing to give its unanimous suffrage to its first President, 
and Washington was conscientiously inquiring for his own duty, 
when their choice should be made known. The writer’s earliest 
recollections, therefore, of the country which gave him birth, 
are associated with Washington as chief magistrate: as its re¬ 
vered and beloved father. In later childhood he was a partaker 
in the nation’s grief, when the father of his country died. Even 
now he seems to renew the gloom, in which he sympathized 
with his family and sequestered neighborhood, when the news 
arrived of the death of Washington. Even now the gloom re¬ 
turns which seemed to cover our’ own native hill on the day 
set apart to national grief, Feb. 22, 1800:—the funeral pageant 
—the solemn assembly—the plaintive dirge, denominated for the 
occasion Mount Vernon , and long preserved in our rural choir— 
and the very countenance and tones and attitudes in which a 
chaplain of the revolutionary army poured forth his Eulogy on 
Washington from the very pulpit he left at the call of his coun¬ 
try. Under the influence of these early associations, the writer 
has loved in maturer years to peruse and re-peruse the history of 
the father of his country: always with the deepest veneration: al¬ 
ways with tears of gratitude to Providence for exalting such a 
man: a man whose character and principles should remain the 
best bequest to his country and to the world “so long as our 
history shall be read.” 

We do not expect to present any new information. Happily 
for his country and the world, the principles and character of 
Washington lie in no obscurity: and require no research for their 
discovery; nor testimony and argument to authenticate them as 
his own. There is wanting, we think, a biography of Washing¬ 
ton more fitted to impress his character and principles upon the 
minds of his countrymen than any which we have seen: but such 
a work would find its principal materials in any of the popular 
histories, and would only require that skill in arrangement and 
scenery which would ensure it to be read by every American 
youth, as a model of life which patriotism and religion presented 
to his imitation. It is owing to the industry and foresight of 
Washington, no doubt, that these materials exist in a form which 
forbids their concealment or destruction. Such were the occa¬ 
sions and such the variety of documents, in which he unfolded 
his principles and character, that an enemy to religion and his 
country could not display him in any other light than a Chris¬ 
tian Patriot. 

We have, of course, been not a little surprised, while penning 
this very article, to notice a sober discussion of the religious 
character of Washington! That Christian patriot surely took 
pains enough to settle that question for ever. In a surprising 


40 


variety of documents, most of them of a volunteer character, 
and none of them demanding such expressions as an official for¬ 
mality, he urges his religious views, avowedly impelled by a 
conscientious and grateful regard to God, and with an unequivo¬ 
cal adherence to the Christian faith, in terms so inexpressibly 
devout and tender as would have rendered him the object of 
contempt as a base hypocrite, if his general character had in¬ 
duced among his cotemporaries the suspicion of political finesse. 
On the other hand, they claimed and gained a response, which 
to this day binds the children to the piety of the Father of 
his country. Amidst expressions of his views so distinct, so 
earnest, so various, the question on the religious character of 
Washington seems to us as futile as might be that which was 
never put in doubt, of his understanding or patriotism. The fol¬ 
lowing extracts are not, therefore, designed as testimony. 
They are brought together merely for the purpose of impression: 
partly, indeed, because the writer cannot but conclude from the 
nature of the late discussion, that multitudes in our country must 
be strangely unacquainted with those remarkable documents in 
which with paternal care Washington bequeathed his character 
and principles to his country and the world. 

In a letter to a friend at the close of the campaign of 1778, 
Washington says, in terms which naturally suggest the means by 
which his religious spirit was produced or matured: 

“ Both armies are brought back to the very point they set out from, and the 
offending party in the beginning is now reduced to the use of the pick-axe and 
the spade for defence. The hand of Providence is so conspicuous in all this, 
that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more than wicked, 
that has not gratitude to acknowledge his obligations.” 

On the surrender of Cornwallis, at Yorktown, Oct. 1781, the 
General ordered: 

“ Divine service shall be performed to-morrow in the different brigades and 
divisions. The Commander-in-Chief recommends that all the troops that are 
not upon duty do assist at it with a serious deportment and that sensibility of 
heart which the recollection of the surprising and particular interposition of 
Providence in our favor claims.” 

His address to the Governors of the several States, in antici¬ 
pation of resigning his command, dated June, 1783, seems more 
than any other to have been produced by a deep sense of relig¬ 
ion; and is so much the more striking as the farewell of a suc¬ 
cessful and honored military chieftain: 

“ It is now my earnest prayer that God would have you, and the State over 
which you preside, in his holy protection—that he would incline the hearts of 
the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government 
—and finally that he would be most graciously pleased to dispose us all to do 
justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility and 
pacific temper of mind, which were the characteristics of the divine author of 
our blessed religion ; without a humble imitation of whose example in these 
things we can never expect to be a happy nation.” 


41 


Again, on addressing the army for the last time, under date 
Rocky Hill, near Princeton, Nov. 2, 1783, he says, referring to 
the contest which was passed: 

“The signal interpositions of Providence in our feeble condition, were such 
as could scarcely escape the attention of the most unobserving, while the un¬ 
paralleled perseverance of the armies of the United States, through almost 
every possible suffering and discouragement, for the space of eight long years, 
was little short of a standing miracle.” In conclusion, he offers in their behalf 
“ his recommendations to their grateful country, and his prayers to the God of 
Armies.” 

On the 19th of Dec., 1783, Gen. Washington arrived at An¬ 
napolis where Congress were then assembled, and shortly after, 
at a public audience, resigned his commission. It was a scene 
of deep religious interest , when amidst an assembly in tears, the 
illustrious commander was enabled to say: 

“ The successful termination of the war has verified my most sanguine ex¬ 
pectations, and my gratitude for the interposition of Providence, and the assist¬ 
ance I have received from my countrymen, increases with every review of the 
momentous contest.” * * * * * * “1 consider it an in¬ 

dispensable duty to close this last solemn act of my official life, by commending 
the interests of our dearest country to the protection of Almighty God, and 
those who have the superintendence of them to his holy keeping.” 

In his retirement, the next year, he speaks in a letter to a 
friend, “ of looking back like a wearied traveller, and tracing 
with an eager eye the meanders by which he escaped the quick¬ 
sands and mires which lay in his way, and into which none but 
the all-powerful Guide and Disposer of human events could have 
prevented his falling.” 

When Washington was informed in the year 1787, of the prob¬ 
ability of his election to the Presidency, under the new constitu¬ 
tion, we find him expressing himself to Gen. Lee in the follow¬ 
ing terms: 

“Though I prize as I ought the good opinion of my fellow-citizens, yet I 
know myself I would not seek popularity at the expense of one social duty or 
moral virtue. While doing what my conscience informed me was right as it 
respected my God, my country, and myself, I could despise all the party clamor 
and unjust censure which might be expected. I am conscious that I fear alone 
to give any real occasion for obeying, and that I do not dread to meet with un¬ 
merited reproach.” 

On receiving official notice of his election, April 14, 1789, he 
set out for New York to assume his high duties, and on his way, 
thus concluded his reply to the inhabitants of Alexandria: 

“ All that now remains for me is to commit myself and you to the protection 
of that beneficent Being who, on a former occasion, happily brought us together, 
after a long and distressing separation. Perhaps the same gracious Providence 
will again indulge me.” 

On the 30th of April, 1789, the father of his country took the 
oath of office. In the spirit of that beloved citizen, who was 
now to be inaugurated as the first President of the United States, 
the clergy of different denominations in the city of New York 

4 * 


42 


assembled their congregations and offered up public prayers for 
the President and people. At twelve o’clock, Washington was 
escorted to Federal Hall, where he was to assume the govern¬ 
ment of his country. There in an open gallery fronting Broad 
street, and in the presence of thousands who filled those wide 
avenues, Washington took the oath of office, amidst a silence as 
sublime as the occasion; broken first by the discharge of artillery 
equal to the number of States: then by the cheers repeated and 
re-echoed by the assembled crowds. From this scene Washing¬ 
ton retired to the Senate Chamber and consecrated his adminis¬ 
tration in the following terms: 

“ It would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official act my fervent 
supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides 
in the councils of nations, and whose providential aid can supply every human 
defect, that his benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the 
people of the United States, a government instituted by themselves for these 
essential purposes, and may enable every instrument employed in its adminis¬ 
tration, to execute with success the functions allotted him to discharge. No 
people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which con¬ 
ducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States. Every step 
by.which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to 
have been distinguished by some token of Providential agency. And in the im¬ 
portant revolution just accomplished in the system of their united government, 
the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent of so many distinct communi¬ 
ties cannot be compared with the. means by which most governments have been 
established, without some return of pious gratitude, along with a humble anti¬ 
cipation of the blessings which the past seems to presage. These reflections 
arising out of the present crisis, have forced themselves too strongly upon my 
mind to be suppressed. You will join with me, I trust, in thinking that there 
are none, under the influence of which the proceedings of a new and free gov¬ 
ernment can more auspiciously commence.” 

Again, in concluding: 

“ I shall take my present leave, but not without resorting once more to the 
benign Parent of the human race, in humble supplication, that since he has 
been pleased to favor the American people with opportunities for deliberating in 
perfect tranquillity, and dispositions for deciding with unparalleled unanimity 
on a form of government for the security of their union and the advancement of 
their happiness; so his divine blessing may be equally conspicuous in the en¬ 
larged views, the temperate consultations and the wise measures on which the 
success of this government must depend.” 

In the year 1791, Gen. Washington thus speaks of what he 
learned of the good humor of the people on his tour through the 
Southern States: 

“ In some instances they impute to the government what is due, only, to the 
goodness of Providence.” 

On meeting Congress, Dec. 4, 1793, for the first time after 
his renewed call to the Presidency, he says: 

“ I humbly implore that Being, on whose will the fate of nations depends, to 
crown with success our mutual endeavors for each other’s happiness.” 

The Farewell Address, Sept. 1796, is worthy of the Christian 
Patriot: 


43 


“ Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion 
and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the 
tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human 
happiness. The politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and 
cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and 
public happiness. Let us, with caution, indulge the idea that morality can be 
maintained without religion. Reason and experience both, forbid us to expect 
that national morality can prevail to the exclusion of religious principle.” 
“ Observe good faith and justice towards all nations. Cultivate peace and har¬ 
mony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this conduct. Can it be that 
Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue. 
Though in reviewing the incidents of my administration, I am unconscious of 
intentional error, I am, nevertheless, too sensible of my defects, not to consider 
it probable that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they may be, I 
fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they 
may tend.” 

On addressing Congress for the last time, Dec. 7, 1796, he 
says: 

“ I cannot omit to repeat my fervent supplications to the Supreme Ruler of the 
universe and Sovereign Arbiter of nations, that his providential care may still be 
extended to the United States—that the virtue and happiness of the people may 
be preserved, and the government perpetuated.” 

We close with two extracts relating to his last appointment as 
Commander-in-Chief, in expectation of a war with France: 

“ This seems to be the age of wonders. And it is reserved for intoxicated 
and lawless France (for purposes of Providence far beyond the reach of human 
ken) to slaughter her own citizens, and to disturb the peace of all the world 
besides.” 

On accepting the appointment, he says: 

“ We can with pure hearts appeal to Heaven for the justice of our cause, and 
may confidently trust the final result to that kind Providence who has heretofore 
and so often, signally favored the People of the United States.” 

Such were the expressions of the Father of his country: 
not in a single instance, nor in compliance with official formali¬ 
ties, but in a great variety of volunteer documents, and amidst 
all the changes of adversity and prosperity for the space of 
twenty years. Above all, such were the expressions of 
Washington, accompanied by a whole character of moral worth 
so consistent, so blameless, so pure, as w r e cannot conceive to 
have been formed in any other way than that indicated so re¬ 
markably by himself, in his address, June, 1783: if God had not 
inclined his heart, and graciously disposed him to do justice and 
love mercy, and to demean himself with that charity, humility 
and pacific temper of mind which were the characteristics of the 
Divine Author of our blessed religion, and if he had not aimed 
at a humble imitation of his blessed example. 

It were easy to select from the papers and letters of Washing¬ 
ton, the expressions of that high moral principle which evidently 
governed his life amidst the greatest allurements and conflicts, 
with a simplicity and vigor, and constancy which can be explain¬ 
ed in no other way than by supposing that the Saviour was his 
exemplar and his helper. These tokens of high moral worth 


> 


44 


give to his religious expressions the stamp of sincerity and truth, 
and explain the mystery of the man. These alone enable us to 
understand how, amidst distractions and perplexities unexam¬ 
pled, he was a model of patience and self-government—how, 
with honors clustering on his head, such as man never Avore be¬ 
fore, he was humble, meek, fearless of reproach and superior to 
applause; how, in a path of wisdom which glowed at every step 
with increasing lustre, he maintained that self-diffidence and 
that reliance on the guidance of infinite wisdom, which opened 
before him such a bright and glowing path: yet how he main¬ 
tained that conscientious regard to his own personal duty, and 
that belief in a “ supply for every human defect,” which made him 
as remarkable for firmness and decision amidst new and untried 
difficulties; and finally, how, amidst the discouragements and 
fears of eight “ long years,” and the flatteries and allurements 
of the seventeen which followed, he maintained to the last his 
frugality, order, temperance, unceasing diligence and disinter¬ 
estedness; which fitted him for an example to the American 
people, in succeeding generations. 

We say to the American people, because this example was 
displayed on so conspicuous a height, that every eye may see it: 
and because it is an example of such intellectual and moral 
traits, as fits it for the imitation of men in all conditions of life. 
The highest praise of Washington, is that he was a wise, 
great and good common man: so aiming at all the knowl¬ 
edge, and all the skill, and all the virtues Avhich man may ac¬ 
quire when he trusts in God, that he stands forth on the eleva¬ 
tion where Providence placed him, with no eccentricity of 
character; with no monstrousness even of virtue—nor yet with 
the mere virtues of official station; but in the symmetry of intel¬ 
lectual and moral worth: how evidently “ a humble imitation of 
that blessed example,” which the leader of the Revolution com¬ 
mended to his countrymen! Thus it is, that Washington is the 
fit exemplar for those Avho succeed him in the highest offices of 
government, for all who bear rule in the most subordinate sta¬ 
tions, and at the same time for every citizen, for every youth, 
and even for every child. Any one can be like Washington: by 
religiously cultivating all his powers—devoting them to his ap¬ 
propriate duties—and endeavoring in his sphere to bless his 
fellow-men. Well might one of the early eulogists of the father 
of his country apostrophize the mothers of future generations, 
“ Repeat his name to the infant in his cradle, and let the first 
name he lisps be Washington! ” Perhaps that eulogy may guide 
the pencil of some future artist, and such a mother may be seen 
upon the canvass pointing her lisping son to the figure of Wash¬ 
ington, holding in his hand the scroll which directs his country¬ 
men to the example of Jesus Christ and the guidance of Divine 
wisdom, while the bright path before him shall glow with a beam 
of light from heaven. Such is the attitude in which the father 


45 


of his country stands before his countrymen, at a period, which 
more than any other, makes the character and principles of 
Washington a blessing to his country and mankind. 

If we love to fancy to ourselves the canvass glowing with the 
figure of the father of his country walking in a path on which 
falls a beam of glory from on high; while he holds in his hand 
his immortal recommendation of the example of the Saviour: and 
his prayer for Divine influence on the minds of his countrymen; 
we can but wish also to see the skill of the artist on a still larger 
scale. Is it beyond the power of human pencil to portray the 
scene of April 30, 1789; at the auspicious commencement of the 
federal government, with that glowing expression of gratitude 
and supplication, which we are bound to suppose irradiated the 
countenances of Washington and the assembly of the people who 
responded to the piety of that Christian patriot ? and with those 
beams of glory from on high, which fancy sees falling on that 
august assembly, and from it reflected down the long vista of 
our country’s history until the eye is lost in the glowing glory of 
future and distant times ? 

Such it seems to us is the aspect in which Washington appears 
as the First Executive of our civil government; the Christian 
patriot, attended by the sympathies and approbation of the first 
legislative assembly. He stands before his countrymen, not 
only an example for the formation of the character of every 
private citizen, but as the religious leader of a religious 
people. Let it never be forgotten in our halls of state, that 
he who retired from our revolutionary armies to the walks of 
private life commending the example of the Saviour, came forth 
at the head of our civil government as the religious leader of a 
religious people; and thus gave to his country and to the world 
the example of a religious state without a state 
religion. The grand discovery is made. Religious tolera¬ 
tion is not the abandonment of religion. Freedom from religious 
tests releases not the civil officer from the rights and obliga¬ 
tions of a Christian. Happily for our country, when she came to 
discard the ancient bond which connected the church and the 
state, Washington her chief magistrate, had the sagacity, the 
conscientiousness, the moral courage, to discover and do the 
duty of a Christian patriot. As the first chief magistrate of a 
country, which had no established religion, he erected an altar 
to the God of heaven and sent up the incense of prayer and 
praise; and as the natural consequence proceeded to commend 
and exemplify the principles of national duty. 

It was the felicity of Washington to avoid the error into which 
both the enemies and mistaken ' friends of religion have alike 
fallen: That the Constitution of the United States must needs 
be regarded as atheistical or deistical, because it makes no for¬ 
mal recognition of a God and a revelation. At the formation of 
that neutral instrument Washington presided. Was he then an 


46 


atheist or deist ? On the contrary, we have seen him introduce 
the Federal Government by erecting the altar and offering the 
incense of religion; and during the whole course of his adminis¬ 
tration, regarding “ the eternal rules of order and right which 
Heaven itself has ordained.” Washington seems never to have 
thought that the convention called to establish the civil govern¬ 
ment had it in charge either to establish or abolish the Christian¬ 
ity which was already the religion of the country: any more 
than its known and acknowledged code of morals. If Washing¬ 
ton be considered as the interpreter of the Constitution which 
he helped to form, we are to understand it not as an Infidel 
document, but as an instrument which presupposes an acknowl¬ 
edged code of morality, and an equally acknowledged religion; 
which without the sanction of the Constitution claims alike of 
magistrates and citizens all Christian and moral duties. The 
convention at Philadelphia came not thither to elect a religion 
for their country; with no leave to decree, “ There is no God 
with no need to decree that God exists and has revealed his will 
to mankind. The neutrality of their instrument left religion 
where it was before they met —before the Revolution; enthroned 
in the hearts and habits of a Christian community; where Wash¬ 
ington found it April 30, 1789, unsupported indeed by the 
enactments of the state, but not without its altar and its in¬ 
cense, and its moral and religious law. This view of the subject 
seems to us most just, and suggests to the friends of religion that 
they cease the cry of an Infidel Constitution , so unwisely set up, 
to the encouragement of the little minority, who learn from 
Christians to think they have the Constitution of their country 
on their side, and to the hindrance of the great original claims 
of religion upon all: the country and its rulers. Let us not tell 
our delinquent lawgivers and magistrates, that a neutral Consti¬ 
tution gives them leave of their constituents to be reckless to 
religion: but point them to the Senate chamber, April 30, 1789, 
—to Washington, unpledged by any religious test: the volunteer 
religious leader of a religious people. 

Such was Washington, as a military commander in a revolu¬ 
tionary struggle; as a man, as the first Chief Magistrate of the 
Federal Government. His character and principles are his best 
bequest to the American people and to mankind. Such a be¬ 
quest at any period of the world were an invaluable blessing; 
yet as we have already intimated, it has a peculiar value, from 
the period at which it was given. It was at the first establish¬ 
ment of an independent government in the United States and in 
the new world, and when infidelity was most urgent and suc¬ 
cessful. 

Who can tell or even conceive the value of such an outset, 
not only to a new government, but to a government over a coun¬ 
try of such magnitude; over a population growing with such 
amazing rapidity; advancing rapidly to its hundred millions; to 


47 


its hundreds of millions? Washington was a Christian Patriot 
for the benefit of such a country, of such a mighty and growing 
population, to all of whom may we not hope the blessing, of 
which he was the instrument, will be so perpetuated, that from 
age to age he may continue to be styled The Father of his 
Country ? 0, if the visions of futurity shall ever rise, a glori¬ 

ous reality, and the broad belt from the Atlantic to the Pacific 
be filled with a population virtuous and happy, then will the 
character and principles of Washington be held in grateful re¬ 
membrance by the future millions of our country; as the source 
of their earthly blessings, as the source of those eternal bless¬ 
ings, which, by his instrumentality, have been offered to their 
acceptance. When John Adams moved that George Washing¬ 
ton, of Virginia, should be Commander-in-chief of the Continen¬ 
tal forces, he knew not how signally a son of the South was to 
fulfil the divine covenant with the Fathers of New England; or 
how he was preparing a spectacle on which even William 
Penn might smile. If Washington was no son of the Pilgrims, 
he was such a Christian Patriot as we may suppose Providence 
raised up at the most important period in answer to their prayers; 
and if he was no disciple of George Fox, he was such a man of 
peace, that if all nations would follow his course the sword 
w'ould be exchanged for the ploughshare, and the nations learn 
w r ar no more. 

The effect of Washington’s character and principles at the 
period noted, is to be considered also in view of the relations in 
which the United States stand to the other nations of the world. 
All the nations of this western world will receive a beneficial 
influence from our illustrious leader; and so much the more as 
we are found w alking in his steps. The example of Washington, 
expanded over a country inheriting his character and principles, 
we may hope will yet put to rest the elements of confusion 
which fill the southern portions of this Continent. Or, if we 
look farther and see the eastern world, partly from our example, 
and partly from the general advance of society, breaking up an 
cient forms of government, and hastening to anarchy and mis¬ 
rule, can any thing prevent the restless nations from becoming 
tossed and troubled seas but their following the nation which 
led the way in the disenthralment of mankind, after its illustri¬ 
ous leader in the paths of virtue and religion. 

The religious expressions of Washington have a far deeper 
interest in view of the infidelity of his times, and are to be in¬ 
terpreted as having still more meaning than even his glowing 
terms imply. No doubt he saw the dangers to which his country 
and the world were exposed, and with his characteristic wisdom 
set himself to avert the greatest of all national calamities. We 
see no avowal of his design. The commander who withdrew 
from Trenton, under cover of his nocturnal fires, and was gain¬ 
ing a battle at Princeton, while the British army was preparing 


to attack his deserted camp,' was not likely to declare his hos¬ 
tility to the growing infidelity of his country. Yet may we not 
say that the danger was averted, and our country saved, as an 
example to the world, by Washington’s earnest commendation 
of religion, and his consistent example; that thus by his charac¬ 
ter and principles he gained for his country a victory, surpassing 
beyond conception all the blessings which were gained by his 
military or political skill. How striking the contrast between 
Washington and those miserable imitators of our struggles for 
liberty, the French Revolutionists! at one time setting up a 
miserable Prostitute to be adored as the goddess of reason! all 
other deities having been voted out of existence! or at another, 
mustering all Paris, with heathen mummery, at the call of Rob¬ 
espierre, to celebrate the existence of a God, and to make a 
bonfire of Ambition, Atheism, Egotism; amidst the growing 
horrors of the reign of terror! Washington, the Christian Patriot, 
who led the American revolution, and who was the first execu¬ 
tive of the Federal government, performed his noblest work as 
one of the victors over the Conspirators, who plotted to erect 
the standard of liberty on the ruins of Christianity; thus prepar¬ 
ing the way for the age which has followed, the age of the prop¬ 
agation of the gospel; in view of which we see again the value 
of Washington’s principles and character. On this, however, we 
forbear. Our article may be already too long, yet, in conclu¬ 
sion, we may admire the influence of such a Christian Patriot as 
Washington, in raising up the agents and helpers of the spread 
of the gospel, from among the friends of liberty: whom infidelity 
had been for a whole generation calling to her standard, how 
successfully in continental Europe is recorded in tears and blood; 
how unsuccessfully in England and America, is written in the 
Isles of the Pacific—on the shores of India and Africa—in the 
blessings of the gospel shed forth over all nations. Shall we 
say that the Christian patriot who guided our country in those 
fearful times, has no part in these Christian glories which are 
overspreading the earth, and that if he had lived, he would not, 
like his compatriots, Boudinot and Jay , have stood in the front 
of the host which goes forth to conquer the world to Christ ? 
Or, that if he were now alive, his words and his deeds would not 
call upon his countrymen to yield every heart to the Redeemer ? 





















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